Shown in FIG. 1A is an illustrative embodiment of a typical weld joint 10 between a first pipe 12 and second pipe 14. The second pipe 14 is inserted within the first pipe 12 and a consumable electrode or wire is applied to form a fillet weld 16 to join the first and second pipes 12, 14. The fillet weld 16 may be formed by any know welding or joining technique, including known arc welding techniques. The joining process and weld metal formation introduces heat into the joint 10 and more particularly the pipes 12, 14 to generate a heat affected zone (HAZ) 18 in each of the pipes 10, 12 proximate the weld metal. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,583, the HAZ is the portion of the base metal in each of the pipes 10, 12 that has not been melted, but in which the microstructure and mechanical properties have been altered by the heat introduced by the joining process. To rectify any undesirable alterations, the pipe and joints may be subjected to a heat treatment process.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.